New School, New Students, New Rules

As a new student starting the International Baccalaureate program, getting used to things can sometimes be difficult. If you're coming from a different educational system, you have to learn to adapt to a new campus, teachers, students, classes and grades --the way I did. But fear not, you can get through it! And, with any luck, everything will turn out great.

It's possible that it's your first move (country or school), but not to worry, we have some tips to make your arrival in a new environment go smoothly.

1. Making friends

Upon your arrival, look around and try to find someone amongst your classmates who might give you a tour of the campus and introduce you to people. Often, talking to one person allows you to meet that person's friends and you can easily integrate a group in this way. If you have trouble approaching people, that's fine! Just seek out a teacher or person you may have already met and let them know that you haven't connected with anyone yet.; they will make sure that you are introduced to a couple people. You'll be connected in no time!

Moreover, there are bound to be other new students, especially in an international school. These students will probably be in the same situation you're in, so don't hesitate to approach them-- you might make some great friends... Even if you're new, you may not necessarily be shy; you might be extremely comfortable meeting new people. If that's the case, you could always try to help out another newbie who may be struggling.

Obviously, these particular tips don't only apply to IB students, but everyone. If you're struggling with the IB in particular, keep reading.

2. Classes

As you probably know, the IB course is composed of three higher level classes and three standard level classes of your choice, and an additional Theory Of Knowledge class, that you follow during your two final years of secondary education.

To ensure your success (academic and personal) in the IB, make sure to choose subjects that you know you can do well in, but especially subjects you enjoy learning about. Don't forget to take into account what you may want to study in university, if you got to university. For instance, if you're interested in neurology, you might want to consider taking biology (and or chemistry) as a higher level class. In the IB, it's essential to stay on top of your work. The classes may not be particularly challenging for you, but you need to ensure that all of the tasks you know will take a long time, for example, are started in advance.

As far as evaluations go, my advice is to take revision notes after you finish each chapter. For this to be possible, you need to be taking clear notes in class (see "5 note-taking tips"); that way, you can be sure that you haven't missed anything when you study. Preparing for tests rigorously means that you won't need to make revision sheets for everything before end-of-year exams. The most effective way of studying, in your case, may be making flashcards (see the article "Flashcards" for advice), mind maps or summary sheets (find out what type of learner you are in the "What are the different kinds of learners?" article)...so do that. There are also many useful revision websites for every class; Kognity usually has very accurate information in most disciplines.

If there are notions in class that you don't understand because you've never learned about it, ask your fellow students to clarify. Indeed, it's not uncommon that your fellow students have studied a certain topic that you haven't, coming from a different school system; it's most common in maths, but can also occur in biology and other subjects. Nowadays, you can find almost anything on the internet, which is where you should look for help on topics you don't understand.

In the IB, you also encounter a new subject: Theory Of Knowledge (TOK). Although it may seem frightening at first, you may learn to love it. TOK addresses the question "How do we know? ", and delves into the many areas of knowledge as well as the discussion of knowledge claims. For help in TOK, use Kognity and ask your teachers.

3. CAS

Creativity, Activity and Service are major parts of your two IB years. You'll accumulate CAS experiences for your CAS portfolio over the years as a mandatory part of your IB diploma.

Creative experiences can range from photography to dance. Activity consists in "Active" experiences that make you move, so all sports. Service activities need to be experiences where you demonstrate that you are engaged in attempting to resolve a global issue which is important to you. In addition, the CAS requisites require you to initiate a CAS project of your making; this can be done with other people (this website is a CAS project!) and can take any form. If you are failing to obtain ideas, you can check out our soon-to-arrive article about CAS project ideas.

Throughout your CAS experiences, you need to show determination and engagement. My advice is to use any after-school activities you take part in as CAS experiences; this will limit the amount of extra time you will need to put into your CAS portfolio.

If you feel that I've missed an important issue concerning being a new student in an IB school, please let me know! I hope this article has been helpful.

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Written by: Juliane